Did you know that fish could be fed with a spoon in late winter? In fact, the fish will actually eat the spoon. I am referring to the jigging spoon, a metal lure that is a deadly weapon during the coldest part of winter on both Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair.

To get the fish ready for spoon-feeding, you need some cold weather to drop the water temperatures into the 40s, and we certainly had an early dose of cold weather in December. The water temperature is now just right for spoon-feeding the fish.

To have real good jigging spoon success, the shad or baitfish need to be over deep water (17 to 30 feet) around underwater humps, river/creek channels or deep points. When the water temperature is between 40 and 55 degrees, those temperatures will send the fish to those depths.

Now that the water temperature is just right for spoon-feeding, here are a few tips for using the jigging spoon. The single most important ingredient for catching fish on a jigging spoon is the presence of shad.

Find shad near deep drop-offs, old creek/river channels/ledges and underwater humps/islands and largemouth bass, hybrid bass, striped bass and crappie will not be far away. The fish will be located under big schools of shad and they will be feeding on those shad. In cold water, some shad will die and other shad will become lethargic and make an easy meal for the fish.

This situation is where the jigging spoon will consistently produce fish. There are different sizes and shapes of jigging spoons. My first experience with jigging spoons in deep water occurred many years ago in Virginia. I was using a Little George, a lure that I would not quite equate to a jigging spoon. It was a metal lure shaped somewhat like a small shad baitfish with a spinner attached.

The Little George was a deadly lure for deepwater bass, but you had to fish it horizontally rather than vertically like today’s jigging spoons. The lure was cast out away from the boat and then worked back to the boat by slowly hopping the lure along the bottom. Hang-ups with the lure occurred quite frequently. The Little George is still available today and still catches fish, but there are better lure choices for catching winter fish by fishing vertically.

Good vertical jigging spoons for Lakes Oconee and Sinclair are the Hopkins spoon, the Flex-It spoon and more recently available the Strike King Sexy Spoon. Place any of these spoons in the fish’s face with a slight twitch or a tantalizing drop with a wobble and a likely strike will occur.

When you find a likely spot and shad are present, just drop the spoon all the way through the school of shad to the bottom, and then bring the spoon up depending on depth of the shad. Quite often strikes will occur before the lure reaches bottom especially with the newer Sexy Spoon that has a seductive wobble. With all the spoons, you must watch your line for light strikes. I prefer to locate fish that are close to the bottom since suspended fish seem at times harder to catch.

The jigging spoon does not require much action and usually a slight flick of the wrist is all that is required to entice a strike. You are simply trying to imitate a dying and fluttering shad, so little action is required. However, on some days, you have to find what the fish want and you may have to give the spoon more or less action depending on the fish’s interest.

With the colder water temperatures that will likely hang around until at least early March, I recommend you buy a few jigging spoons, locate some of the deeper water areas I have mentioned, locate baitfish on your depth finder and try for some deepwater largemouth bass, striped bass, hybrid bass and even crappie. Spoon-feeding fish can be a lot of fun.

Good fishing and see you next week.

Outdoor Columnist Bobby Peoples can be contacted via e-mail at brpeoples@windstream.net.